


We've All Got Our Secrets

by strawberryjei



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Cyborg Jason Todd, Lunar Tim Drake, M/M, pretending to be a human, pretending to be an android, the lunar chronicles au, why is that a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 14:21:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30056808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberryjei/pseuds/strawberryjei
Summary: "He’s a LOS-J-816 model that goes by Jay. Prefers male pronouns. He’s recently gone mute, and won’t let anyone close enough to pinpoint exactly what’s wrong. It’s probably an issue that he can’t fix himself, since he usually takes care of his own maintenance.”“I’ll be expecting him. Have a nice day, Ms. Thompkins.”
Relationships: Tim Drake & Jason Todd, Tim Drake/Jason Todd
Comments: 5
Kudos: 79
Collections: JayTim Week 2021





	We've All Got Our Secrets

**Author's Note:**

> if you think im missing any tags, or should change them, please comment and tell me! anyways, a huge shout out to the C&C and Red on Red servers.

Tim was doing a twice yearly maintenance check on the palace's service androids when the line for his side gig lit up green. 

"Hello Ms. Thompkins, how can I help you?" Tim asked as he tucked a stray strand of hair behind his ear. Ms. Thompkins was very good about sending business his way, and in return, he was willing to splurge a little for his custom jobs and repairs for her.

"Hello Timothy, one of the help droids has begun acting erratically, would you please come take a look?"

Mentally calculating his remaining workload, he answered, "I can't make it out of the workshop, but I'd be more than happy to take a look if you send the droid over."

"Sounds wonderful, what time should I send him over?”

“Have him arrive sometime after six. I can’t promise that he’ll be back ASAP, but I’ll work on him when I find the time.”

“So six o’clock. He’s a LOS-J-816 model that goes by Jay. Prefers male pronouns. He’s recently gone mute, and won’t let anyone close enough to pinpoint exactly what’s wrong. It’s probably an issue that he can’t fix himself, since he usually takes care of his own maintenance.”

“I’ll be expecting him. Have a nice day, Ms. Thompkins.”

“You as well, Timothy.”

Tim set a reminder, and buried himself back into his work. It passed by in a mostly uneventful blur, and he was settling down for dinner when a _presence_ and a gentle knock on the door frame made itself known. 

Tim froze, dropped his chopsticks, and he winced at the resulting harsh clang of metal hitting the floor. He glanced at his computer that silently reminded him that he should’ve been expecting a visitor. He’d been expecting an _android_ though. The subtle bioelectric signals emanating from the J-816 model LOS? Distinctly human. 

“Oh, uh, hi. I’m Tim. You’re Jay, Ms. Thompkin’s android, I take it?”

Jay nodded yes, resolutely standing just outside of the room. He clearly didn’t want to come inside. 

“Come in, please. Take a seat,” Tim shouted over his shoulder as he washed up his poor chopsticks. He didn’t remember when he’d muted his computer notifications, but it evidently led to him missing his timer for stretch breaks, snacks, and fixing up androids after work. 

Tim returned to his dinner as Jay nervously watched from his seat. Keeping his distance, and trying his best not to spit any of his dinner as he spoke, Tim sidled over to his computer chair. 

“I know you probably don’t want me to look too closely, but how about I even the playing field? I know part of your secret, but how I know is directly linked to my own secret. I,” Tim paused to swallow his mouthful and take a sip from his tea, “I’m from the moon. I can feel the bioelectricity coming from you that says that you aren't completely a normal service android.”

“Bullshit.”

Well it was good to know that apparently Jay had downloaded a sign language module. Tim thanked the stars that he was fluent, thanks to Cass. He couldn’t really blame Jay for calling bullshit. What kind of Lunar surrounds themselves with robots and shiny things that would immediately cut through any glamour they tried to put up? Tim looked like a frazzled Earthen mechanic covered in oil splotches, scarfing down his dinner, and ready to sleep for the next month.

“Will you freak out if I prove it?”

“You can’t prove it”

Tim set his food down on his desk and snapped his fingers. Between his index finger and thumb, a small electric blue flame sparked to life. Scrunching his face up in concentration, Tim flicked his hand so that it grew, and landed in his palm. He tossed the flame in the air, and clapped it between his hands. Sliding his palms across each other produced orange threads of light, which he balled up into a yellow flame, and popped it into his mouth. He finished his impossible display by breathing out a puff of red smoke, and promptly going back to his abandoned dinner. 

“I’m a bit out of practice, since it’s not exactly safe to advertise that you’re a Lunar, especially in the palace itself,” Tim waved towards the ceiling, “but if I stop completely, I’ll also eventually go crazy.”

Jay cocked his head to the side, likely still trying to process the show of glamour. After a minute or two, he straightened up and signed for paper and something to write with. 

“I was in a bad accident. LOS took me in and gave me a bunch of cybernetics. It messed with my head; I still have trouble remembering things from before I could look into my memory bank. That thing you did was really cool. Pretty trippy to both see the trick and the version where you're waving your hands around like a very dedicated mime." 

_So at least one eye was a cybernetic replacement, and he had memory banks installed. The accident must've been bad to have had that much reconstruction done in the head area_.

"It's good practice all the same. Most of the time I seem to be using it to convince my cats, Emily and Mina, that I did in fact buy their favorite wet food, and for cat toys. If you don't mind me asking, what's up with the malfunction that got you sent here?"

"Don't know.”

“Would you be okay if I take a look? Do you know if the problem is mechanical, or medical?”

Jay nodded curtly, then shrugged. 

“Okay, stand right on that circle platform so I can get an overall scan. That way I can keep track of any modifications or custom jobs that deviate from the basic J-800 series. I’ll have you list what materials you’ve used in maintenance. Are your both of your eyes cybernetic?”

Jay nodded, and walked over to the stand. Tim tapped a few more keystrokes, and on the floor, a clunky camera drone whirred to life. Another tap sent the drone flying in a lazily rising spiral that started at Jay’s feet. Slowly, an orange three dimensional model of Jay began to coalesce on a smaller version of the podium that sat on Tim’s desk. Tim used this time to return to eating his dinner.

Tim had finished eating in the time the scans took to finish, and he sipped at his tea as he poked at the tiny model with a stylus. 

“You’ve got quite a cybernetic ratio, but you know that already. Around 74 percent of cybernetic makeup, with silicon and biotissue being used generously in the biological makeup.” Tim tapped a few other places that enabled some sort of scanner to run through the model. Assorted areas began glowing yellow, the most glaring of which was the throat. Another few taps zoomed in on the area.

“Well, you’re in luck because the issue seems to be in your cybernetics, which I can fix. The catch is,” he said as he met Jay’s eyes, “that means that I’ll need to access to your control panel, the one on the back of your head. Are you okay with that?” 

“I don’t really have a choice,” he signed resignedly. 

“You do. I’m going to be unusually busy for the next week or so, so I can stretch Ms. Thompkins’ patience a bit further if I say that I truly didn’t have the time to look over your case. After that I can say that I have to wait for a custom part to be ordered in, and until then you have time to consider your options.”

Jay cocked his head to the side, and scribbled something onto the notepad. “I need time to consider.”

“Very well then.” Tim saved the file under an unassuming name in his personal drive, and began packing up his tools. “You could spend the night here, or you could come spend the night at my place. I’ve got a cot over in the corner, but you’d need to look out for the night janitor that comes around. I should have a LOS standard charging port somewhere around here... Oh! Do you need to eat?”

Stars above, Tim hoped that he wasn’t being insensitive by asking all of these questions.

“I have a charging dock at Doc Leslie’s, but I still need to eat. Just not a lot. I can get by as long as I'm hydrated.”

“In that case you should come to my apartment, since I only have snack foods here that Steph throws at me sometimes.” He slung his bag over his shoulder, and began fiddling with the nape of his neck.

Jay studied Tim as he opened a control panel that was not unlike his own and input some sort of button sequence. With a wince, Tim pushed a final button, seized up as if he'd been electrocuted, and relaxed again. He quickly closed the control panel and replaced the synthskin, tugging his collar back into place. He shot a wry grin at Jay. “We've all got our secrets, don't we?"

  
  
  



End file.
